What
happened on the 32nd All Japan Tournament,
held on December 3rd, 2000, should be and example to all Kyokushin
groups towards the Doping Test. A doping Committee should be establish in all
Kyokushin groups and work together with the International Olympic Committee
(IOC) to make the doping test a requirement in all Kyokushin Competition, to
assure the safety of all competitors and at the same time to discourage the use
of drugs in the Dojos. As Shihan Midori said A TRUE CHAMPION is the one who has
built up an extreme mental and physical strength through vigorous training and
not those who has to depend on drugs to handle the training and pressure of the
tournament. We are very happy and congratulate Shihan Kenji Midori
for his decision on this matter and we hope that all the others Kyokushin Organizations
implement and make this test mandatory in all Kyokushin International Competition to make sure that only True
Champions able to be good role models for futures generations, can emerge from
those competitions. We must let the world know that KYOKUSHIN KARATE SAY NO TO
DRUGS! Be involve by asking your teachers or the leaders of your
organizations what they are doing to prevent the use of drugs in Kyokushin competitions.
Below is
the official statement by Shihan Kenji Midori regarding this incident.

January
15, 2001

Announcement
related to the result of the 32nd All Japan Tournament

(The
down below statement was handed out to mass-media at a Press-Conference held
January 15th, 2001, TOKYO)

With
this statement, we would like to make explanation about the changes that have
been made in the result of the 32nd All Japan Tournament, held on
December 3rd, 2000.

The
winner of the tournament, Norichika Tsukamoto has been disqualified, which has
resulted in the following result: 1st Place: Suzuki Kunihiro, 2nd
Place Sakamoto Shinji, 3rd Place: Sato Yoshitaka, 4th
Place Osaka Yuichiro, 5th Place Ishihara Tadashi, 6th
Place Sotodate Shinichi, 7th Place Akutsu Yushiro.

The
reason for the withdrawal of the Champion Title of Tsukamoto is that the doping
test that was done in connection with the tournament, showed a positive result
of Tsukamotofs test. Down below, we will try to explain in detail about this
matter:

On
December 3rd, competitors of the All Japan Tournament left samples of
urine to use for the doping test. Persons present at that time were a doctor as
well as the doping committee of our organization. The test itself was done by a
doping test authority, officially recognized by the IOC (International Olympic
Committee). On December 15th, the Chairman of the Doping Committee,
Tabata, received information of the result of the tests, and it was known that
Tsukamoto was positive, and I as the President of the Committee was contacted.

On
December 19th, myself (Midori), the IKO President, Yasuhiro
Shichinohe, Shigeru Tabata, Keiji Sampei (JKO advisor), Takehisa Iriki (JKO Vice
President), Tokujun Ishi (JKO/IKO Office Manager), had a meeting with Tsukamoto
in order to ask him about this. Tsukamoto explained that he had used marijuana
one week before the tournament. We decided then to establish an extra committee,
with Isao Kobayashi (Vice President) as Chairman in order to take responsibility
for this matter.

Further,
on the same day, myself together with another four persons, visited the doping
test authority, and after reconfirming the result of the test, we visited Mr.
Imai, who is the lawyer for our organization, and explained the situation for
him, and on the same evening, Mr. Imai and Tsukamoto met and discussed the
matter, mostly about how to deal with the matter as regarding to the involvement
of the police.

The
following day, December 20th, Mr. Imai contacted the Police office in
Shibuya, and made an appointment, and on December 22nd, he met with
the person in charge at the Police Office. The result of the discussions was
that Tsukamoto should report himself to the Police. (At this time, Mr. Imai, had
not mentioned the name of Tsukamoto)

On
December 25th, Tsukamoto went together with Mr. Imai to the Shibuya
Police Office, and an interrogation was made, and he gave also a sample of urine
for a test at that time.

On
January 9th, Mr. Imai was contacted by the Shibuya Police Office with
the information that the result of the urine test was negative, they had found
nothing that showed that Tsukamoto had used marijuana or any other illegal drug,
thus this was not a matter for the Police to handle. After receiving this
information, the Chairman of the extra committee, Kobayashi called for a
committee meeting, which was held at the Kimura Law Office, at which Mr. Imai is
working. Myself, Tabata, Iriki, Ishi attended this meeting, and discussed at
that time, what charges should me made in this case. We came to the following
decision, which are all made in the name of Isao Kobayashi, Chairman of the
extra committee.

Consequences
for Tsukamoto

(1)Withdrawal of the Champion Title of the 32nd All Japan
Tournament.

(2)Suspension from Official Tournaments and any other Official Event for a
period of one year and six months.

(3)This means that Tsukamoto may not participate in the World Cup to be held
in Hungary next June (Tsukamoto was supposed to represent Japan in the Heavy
Weight), instead, the reserve competitor, SAKAMOTO Shinji will be one of the
member of the Japanese Team, heavy weight. As to who will be the reserve
competitor instead of Sakamoto, an announcement will be made later on.

Other persons

As to myself as the President of
our Organization, I have been given a strict warning for putting our
Organization in this situation.As to Takehisa Iriki, Branch Chief of Tokyo Jonan Kawasaki
Branch, which is the Branch that Tsukamoto belongs to, he has been given a
strict warning as well for not being able to have better control over Tsukamoto.

Shihan
Iriki was previously elected to be the main Coach of the Japanese World Cup
Team, however, he has decided to resign from this position, and the organization
has accepted his resignation. As to who will succeed Shihan Iriki as Main Coach,
an announcement will be made later on.

Above, I
have tried to explain the facts in this matter.

I would
also like to give my comments on how I, as the President of JKO looks upon this
matter. There is no word that could explain how I feel about Tsukamotofs use of
marijuana. Just to think of all the young ones who have had Tsukamoto as their
goal, by this, their dream has been destroyed. I have nothing to say in defense
if I receive critics about our motto to educate the younger
generation. As to the fact that such a famous competitor of our organization
has caused such a scandal, I can only extend my deepest apologies to the
members, students of Kyokushinkaikan, to the parents of the junior members, to
Kyokushin fans, and to those who have supported our organization, and to the
society in total.

When I
heard about this fact, my first reaction was g No it cannot be true!, not just
because of Tsukamoto, but no karate-ka could do such a thing!, and I
could not believe the words I heard from the Chairman of the Doping Committee,
Tabata. That is why I went myself to the Doping Test Authority, in order to
confirm the result. Further, This kind of scandal will have a very negative
influence on not only Tsukamoto, but also our Organization, we have to be
prepared on receiving large damages and there will be consequences that we have
to deal with. However, since Sosai Oyama passed away, our organization has
continuously worked for creating an open and fair organization. If we would
keep this scandal to ourselves, the work we have done this far would be
self-destroyed. Considering this, I believe that although this will not easily
be forgotten by the society, we should stand up and be straight and honest about
the whole affair. Which means that we have to give a clear punishment to
Tsukamoto, which should be officially announced.

As to
the consequences that Tsukamoto will have to take for his actions, we have just
announced them in this text, and I believe that there are different reactions
towards this, but I want you all to know that before making this decision, we
took a look at the different cases of doping cases in the IOC , as well as
considering the fact that marijuana is an illegal drug.

I also
would like to explain here, that Tsukamoto did not use and steroids, which means
that the fights made at the 32nd All Japan Tournament were grealh,
there were no influence on his fighting because of using drugs. This means that
as to the competition, the strongest competitor was Tsukamoto. However, we still
decided to withdraw him from the Champion Title, since marijuana is an illegal
drug in Japan, and it is also listed as a forbidden drug according to IOCfs
doping standards, and in the Olympics, or other sports competition, this would
be treated in the same way as we have done this time.

Further,
I also heard that the reason for Tsukamoto to use marijuana was that he felt
such a heavy pressure before the tournament, but if we take a look at this
matter from a BUDO point of view, just by the fact that he has to use
drugs in order to control himself mentally, he has already lost the competition.
Any competitor is nervous, feels a pressure and has a hard time before a
tournament, but only a person who can handle these feelings and this pressure,
and still make it to the top can be called a true Champion. Only a person, who
has built up an extreme mental strength through vigorous training of the martial
art, can become the strongest of all and be a true Champion. So this is also one
of the reasons for changing the order of the winners at this tournament, thus
the Champion of the 32nd All Japan Tournament is SUZUKI Kunihiro.

As to
Tsukamoto, he shows a strong repentance for what he has done, and he has
accepted the consequences, and is at the moment in domiciliary confinement at
his home. I am sure that you all are aware of that Tsukamoto has been
contributing a lot to our organization, since the 6th World Open
Tournament, and that he has meant a lot for our competitors. And although he has
caused this scandal, his contributions to increasing the level of our
competitors cannot be denied. So, our organization does still hope that
Tsukamoto will, in the future, once again be the goal and dream for the younger
generation, that he one day will come back and show himself as a true BUDO-ka
and Karate-ka. I myself believe that Tsukamoto can do this. I understand that
this is not anything that I should say at this stage, but still, I hope that you
all will in silence support the comeback of Tsukamoto.

At last,
at the 7th World Open Tournament, Burghard Geartner, did also show a
positive result in the doping test, and, although that was another drug that was
used at that time, it is extremely sad that we have had these two doping cases.
We established a Doping Committee in our organization just before the 7th
World Open Tournament, and this has resulted in that at two tournaments we have
had competitors using drugs that are not permitted. Drugs have entered our
Kyokushin Karate Competition. As an organization we will take this problem very
seriously and work very hard in order to have a clean competition, and we will
be very strict towards those who acts against the rules.

If
thinking back, I believe that we have received a very positive response from the
public by introducing a Doping test in our tournaments, but at the same time, I
think that there is much left for us to learn as to the work that has to be done
in order to prevent the use of drugs etc. I believe that I, as the President of
the Organization has not worked hard enough in order prevent the use of drugs,
which is also why I was given a strict warning from the organization. I will
therefore work for increasing the knowledge about doping amongst our competitors
and leaders, and amongst others this will be done in our organization
magazine, Kyokushin Damashi as well as seminars etc.

If we,
as an organization are working for an open, fair and clean organization, our
tournaments should also be filled with Budo Spirit, and everybody should fight
on the same conditions. And in the future, we will conduct clean tournaments,
and only by doing that we may rebuild our reputation.

I also
would like to add that our organization was approved of as a NON PROFIT
ORGANIZATION, last year in September, and we are thus working as such an
organization already. This means that our responsibility towards society is even
heavier than previously, and we will not repeat this kind of scandal again.

Our
organization has had three mottos, or three pillars which we have worked
according to:
Education of the younger generation,
International Exchange,
Contribution to Society.
We will not change
these mottos, but instead work even harder to put our words into reality, and
that will be the only true apology towards society for what we have caused by
this scandal.

I hope for your
continuously support towards Kyokushinkaikan and at the same time, I would like
to end this statement with my deepest apologies in this regard.